Jules Verne’s 1892 novel The Carpathian Castle is given a Pythonesque treatment in this very funny, star-studded, sci-fi-horror romp directed by comedy specialist Oldřich Lipský and written by the legendary Jiří Brdečka.

It seems that an evil Baron (Miloš Kopecký, also the titular Baron in Karel Zeman’s Munchausen film screening this year at CaSFFA) and a mad scientist (Rudolf Hrušínský) have imprisoned a soprano in a castle that opera singer Count Teleke of Tölökö (Michal Dočolomanský), besotted with the soprano, chances upon in the Carpathian Mountains…

In a film teeming with inventiveness – including an extraordinary proto-cinematic apparatus – there are wonderful props designed and animated by Jan Švankmajer and an atmospheric soundtrack from master composer Luboš Fišer.